Filed under: Capitalism, Economy, Health Care, Intelligence, National Security, The United States | Tags: Bankrupt California, Ideas Fixed in Concrete, If Bankrupt—Spend More
— Aside from the computer, it has been a strange day. Cesar Chavez, the dictator of Venezuela, has died of cancer. He has pauperized the people, been an oppressive thug, and destroyed the nation economically. So we are sending a delegation to the funeral.
— California is an economic basket case, has a huge problem with mass exodus of her people, is building a high-speed railroad to nowhere that costs billions that they cannot afford, and now, to demonstrate their ‘niceness,’ they have passed a new Dream Act, the controversial program to regularize those illegals who were brought here as children and know no other home.
Breaking the law by entering the country illegally is— illegal. Calling someone “illegal” is racist. I think the preferred term is “undocumented” which is absurd. Now more than 20,000 college-bound students are seeking state financial aid — Cal Grants— for the first time. This comes at a time when there are no jobs for college graduates and the default rate for student loans is becoming a threatening bubble, for American citizens.
We have tried “amnesty” and it simply brought a new flood of illegal immigrants under the assumption the if they come, we will soon offer “amnesty” again. Democrats want more poor Hispanic immigrants made legal, for they believe they will be Democrat voters since they will be dependent on government welfare. Democrats claim that Republicans have racist animus toward Hispanics. Republicans like Hispanics fine. They just want them to obey the law.
— The President hosted dinner for about ten Republicans at a hotel near the White House last night, a notable event considering his refusal to meet with Republicans or to even discuss with them matters of missing budgets. He did meet with Congressional Republicans just before the sequester for precisely 7 minutes.
Has he decided that he will suddenly be bipartisan? Has he decided that you catch more flies with honey? He is even meeting with Budget Chairman Paul Ryan. Perhaps Congressman Ryan can convince him that he should turn in his budget proposal that is so badly overdue. The Republicans gave the president the increase in taxes on the rich that he demanded, in January, in the fiscal cliff negotiations — because they could not do anything else. They did, however, make the Bush tax cuts for everyone else permanent, which was a very big deal.
The long-running drama in Washington D.C. is becoming more fascinating than any soap opera. Is there the slightest glimmer of hope off in the distance? Or are we doomed to a second recession and financial collapse? I have no confidence in the administration and then new players promise to be worse than the last bunch. Stay tuned.
Filed under: Capitalism, Economy, National Security | Tags: Adding $8.7 Trillion to the Debt, Ideas Fixed in Concrete, No Room for Compromise
The Obama administration released the budget this morning, for fiscal year 2012. Kevin Hassett, senior fellow, and Director of Economic Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute summed it up nicely:
You can probably count on one hand the number of Americans who think the level of near-term spending in the last CBO outlook was too low, and this budget reveals that all of them apparently work in the White House.
Kevin Hassett says that the budget increase signals that the President has decided to try to push the Republicans towards a high-drama showdown on spending. He clearly thinks he can win such a showdown. The latest Gallup survey indicates the disapproval rate on the budget at 68% and the disapproval rate of the president’s management of the economy at 60%. That is high.
The president’s message — All is well. Let’s spend more on solar panels and high-speed rail. Over the next decade, this budget would add another $8.7 trillion to the national debt and take the national debt as a share of the economy to 77%. The White House is assuming a decade of steady growth with no recessions. This year’s total spending is $3.73 trillion — 25 percent of GDP.
Lots of battles ahead. The president has not changed his ideas at all since January 2009. He has learned nothing. He has not heard or understood anything said by the American people. He has heard nothing that scientists, engineers and the experience of other countries cite with solar panels, wind power or high-speed rail. European countries are shutting down their experiments as fast as they can. Despite the experience of every European country, Obama still thinks there will be scads of green jobs, a fact belied by our own experience.
The president’s own deficit commission recommended reducing the deficit by $4 trillion over the next ten years — to avoid financial catastrophe. Nevermind. Richard Epstein who knows him from the University of Chicago and others have said the Obama’s ideas are “set in concrete,” he just doesn’t change them.
Obama is using fake numbers to suggest that he is being fiscally responsible, and trying to set a trap for Republicans so that when they make cuts in the budget he can portray them as mean-spirited and irresponsible. The Center for American Progress (George Soros outfit) has probably already written the script.
